Part 21: Gabriel Knight vs. Ritter Family History
Chapter 21: Gabriel Knight vs. Ritter Family History
Once again, the sun rises along Bourbon Street.
The paperboy rounds the corner and hurls his ill tidings at the door of St. George's Books.
Grace arrives at the crack of dawn, because apparently that's necessary to keep the store from going under.
And sometime later, Gabriel ... strolls in heartily through the front door. Okay, it's a bit of a change.
He still goes straight for the coffee, though. Wouldn't want to shock us with too much change at once. Grace quietly watches him.
At least someone here recognizes how bad things are getting. Gabriel tries to dismiss her concerns.
Grace reaches for the small package on the ground by her desk.
Not exactly her stealthiest work.
Suddenly, the phone rings.
Gabriel rushes to the phone and answers in his deepest, sultriest tone.
Can we hear the other side of this conversation, please? No? Fine.
So instead we get the Cliff's Notes version with something about the Haitian Revolution. Gonna have to head over there to get more info out of Hartridge though. Gabriel hangs up the receiver.
I think he's just trying to keep her off his back, but he might have completely lost his mind.
Gabriel drops the subject and checks out the contents of the package that Grace so thoughtfully salvaged.
That's kinda sweet. The guy's still probably crazy, but at least he means well. Gabriel opens the journal...
Unfortunately, we only get the outline; we don't get to read the whole thing.
Dear Father,
I offer these final words as apology for the harm done to our sacred office. The woman I wrote of, Tetelo, was the witch I sought. I have committed terrible crimes. I loved this witch, then betrayed her, and then used our sacred family power to free her and aid her in destroying this colony.
The talisman is gone -- Tetelo took it. I can but pray for thy forgiveness, for thy swift recovery of the talisman, and that my punishment in Hell will be long and bitter.
Thy undeserving son,
Gunt(h)er
This seems to tie into the dream ... alarmingly well. It certainly seems we've been watching Gunter Ritter mournfully burning this Tetelo at the stake. The medallion with the blood on it might very well be the talisman spoken of here. There doesn't appear to be any mention in the journal of her transforming into a leopard, but dreams are weird like that; it could have been symbolic.
Things are starting to come together very cleanly. Looks like it's Hartridge's turn to fill in some of the gaps. Just a couple more things while Gabriel is still in the shop.
If Gabriel can find out what the drummers' messages say, he might be able to keep one step ahead of the cult. And no matter what it'd be a good idea to learn more about this, assuming Crash was right about them.
One quick skim of the newspaper...
This guy writes the most goddamn depressing horoscopes.
And one last yell at the guy staring in the window...
That guy has some serious issues. That's enough time wasted; time to find out what Hartridge has for us.
It feels weird to leave Grace alone with this guy staring in at all times, but he doesn't seem to be really doing anything. Gabriel hops on his bike and drives to Tulane.
As usual, Hartridge doesn't respond to Gabriel's knock, so he shows himself in.
Son of a bitch! The guy was fine not even half an hour ago!
There's no way this was random. He was on to something. Gabriel checks for something he can use.
Yup, that's exactly what Hartridge said over the phone, except handwritten.
Unfortunately, that's the best Gabriel can find. Whatever else Hartridge knew, he's gonna hold onto the secret forever.
"THAT'S IT! This is the last fuckin' straw. I'm gonna find Dr. John and I'm gonna get some goddamn answers!"
Gabriel arrives at the Voodoo Museum only to find the lights out and nobody inside.
Hmm. Doesn't seem like anyone's in the building, but why else would the door be open?
Dr. John's supposed to be at the cemetery a lot. Maybe --
"...shit."
Next time:
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Video!
40. Day 5 opening (Dailymotion) (Youtube)